WIRED MAGAZINE: ISSUE 17.08

Leave Your Wi-Fi Open

By Lucas Graves

07.15.09

Everyone with a Wi-Fi network has had to wrestle with this conundrum: Should you leave your network open for anyone to use, or is that asking for trouble?

Let's start by dispensing with the legalities. Unless your ISP is one of a handful that officially don't care, knowingly letting a neighbor share your connection likely violates your terms of service. Of course, it's hard to prove that you did something knowingly, as long as Flanders isn't paying you.

Even so, you should share your Wi-Fi. Recent brain research suggests that altruistic behavior stimulates the same primitive reward center as sex and food. Now, keeping your signal open won't give you an orgasm, but we know that doing unto others—even small acts like this—feels good.So unless it starts messing with your Hulu feeds of Dollhouse, why not let the neighbors hop aboard? It's not like you pay by the packet. It's even in your self- interest; the more people leave their networks open, the better your odds of finding a hookup when you need one.

Worried about exposing your data to evildoers? Well, there's more danger in leaving your machine unprotected than your network. Just think of all the times you've surfed the Web in coffee shops and airports. There is a small risk that someone will use your bandwidth for nefarious activities, but just because we don't live in a world that's 100 percent safe doesn't mean we should lock everything down.

A Comcast exec might object to a "leave it open" Wi-Fi policy. After all, we can't let everyone piggyback—and by enabling some people to avoid paying, aren't signal-sharers just raising prices for the rest of us? That would be the case in a competitive market—rather than one ruled by a monopoly or duopoly (depending on your city) that charges more, for crappier service, than almost anywhere else in the industrialized world. (Average broadband speed in Japan: 63.6 Mbps. In the US: less than 5 Mbps.) Plus, in a business with high fixed costs and low variable costs, what matters is that enough people pay. Sounds irrational, but it should be familiar: It's the NPR model.

http://technologyexpert.blogspot.com/2009/01/95-of-music-downloads-are-illegal-ifpi.html

http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/internet-pornography-statistics.html

The Internet is one of the greatest technologies ever created. People all around the world use it, and love it. This can be seen from the number of Internet users in Asia today, which has multiplied almost 15 times from the year 2000. However, with all this hype about it, there’s a catch to accessing the Internet- a Wi-Fi connection. A user has to be connected to a Wi-Fi network if he wants to access the Internet. If the Wi-Fi network isn’t working or isn't available, then its “goodbye Internet”. However, there is one solution; joining someone else’s open Wi-Fi network. As with all solutions there’s still a problem. While some users might just leave their Wi-Fi network for others to use (or unknowingly they do), others lock it to use it personally. Why you may ask? This is because, while there are several benefits of leaving your network open, there are several down sides to it.

First of all, sharing your Wi-Fi network is an altruistic behavior. Recent brain research suggests that this actually makes one feel good even though it might just be a small act of kindness. Why not share your Wi-Fi when it does not affect your Internet access? It’s better to maximize the usage of the Wi-Fi than just waste it. It is also in your own best interest that there are open Wi-Fi networks present. In the case that your Wi-Fi network isn’t working, you have something to connect to! Furthermore money is certainly not an issue here. The owner of the Wi-Fi network does not have to pay by the packet during Internet usage. Rather, he only has to pay for the network itself! So what are you waiting for? Open your Wi-Fi networks now!

Just hold on for a second there. While I would like to have open Wi-Fi networks, you obviously should not open yours. Although it does make one feel good to share, the ones who are “borrowing” the network are usually leeches. They do not even own a network but rather log into others. While this might seem rather harmless, wouldn’t the price of having a network increase for the rest of us who leaves an open network? Since there are less people who are paying for the network, the signal-sharer companies obviously have to raise the prices of their networks to actually earn money from this.

Furthermore, there is a case of the anonymous people who might use the open network. They might just be an average Joe, but what they are hackers? What is worse that whatever the users are doing within your network, you will be the one at stake. For example, if someone’s watching child pornography or downloading illegally from the Internet, your IP address will be tracked down as doing these activities. You would not want the police knocking at your door and interrogating you for something you did not do, would you? Almost 116,00 people search for child pornography daily and almost 95% music downloads are illegal around the world. The threat is clear.

Then there is the case of speed. The more people in your network, the slower it will be! Furthermore, Internet users usually download a load of stuff from the Internet, making your own downloads slower. While you can actually make adjustments to your computer, so that it actually has faster Internet access speed than the people who use it, people might just hack into your account at any time. For example, they can change your Wi-Fi password, making you unable to use it for yourself.

Though, I have to agree that sharing your own network will definitely benefit you in some ways as stated before, the risk of having and open network is just too big as of now. Thus please lock your Wi-Fi network.

Students should be allowed to set their own rules.

Students should be allowed to set their own rules. After all, a class is run by its own students and a school is organized by its own student body, although still being overseen by the teachers. A few years back, my friend had a form teacher who had little care about the class’s happenings and what the class wanted to do. He was one of those teachers who wanted the students to be independent and take responsibility of everything they did. Being an enthusiastic chap, my friend signed up to be the class monitor so as to be in charge of his class’s happening and the setting of his class’s rules. Although these rules were still monitored closely by the form teacher himself, it was the students in the class that made their own rules. Making one’s own rules would mean that one would have to take responsibility if there should be any flaws in it. Rules are usually generally and for a mass amount of people, so people who are setting their own rules should not only think for themselves, but others too. Of course I am not saying that all students should be given the opportunity to set their own rules, but if this opportunity is rightly given to students with a mature thinking and attitude, it would prove to be a good thing.

In this modern world where the “youths or today are the leaders of tomorrow”, students should be allowed to set their own rules so as to put their leadership skills to practice. Students also have a different mindset than last time. Now, they want to be in charge instead of just going with the flow. Therefore, there is a need to adapt to these changes so as to provide a healthy growth for the youths. Some may argue that students, being the naïve and rash youths that they are, are incapable of making “adult” decisions that cater for their whole class or even school; not just themselves. However, wouldn’t it be better if students screwed up and make the bad decisions now rather than when they are adults? Being students, they are in a conducive environment to let their maturity grow, with support from their parents and teachers. Thus, they can still learn from their mistakes, as it would not cost them much. Adults who face the prospect of making “bad decisions” will worry and fret, as they would have no one else to turn to. After all, their pride is on the line if they screw up. Furthermore, youths and the elderly are the ones who are supposed to be dependent on them. Therefore, my training students to set their own rules now, it would be a walk in the park for them to do this the next time round. Furthermore, it is one’s own schools, so by right, its rules should be set by students themselves. Simply put, students have to be allowed to set their own rules so as to be better prepared in the future. If not now, when?

 Again, people will still worry about who these students, who are being allowed to set their own rules, are. Readers are assured that only supposed mature students, such as the prefects or councilors of the school, should be given this opportunity. This way, the staff of a school can rely on these students to set the correct rules. On the other hand, these prefects or councilors are still students. This way, the staff will understand the common need for students and set their own rules therewith. With their maturity and understanding, they can make far better rules than the staff. Therefore, there is nothing to lose as these prefects/councilors can be counted on by everyone to set the correct rule, without being biased. In conclusion, students, who have deemed their right, should be allowed to set their rules.

As rules can be seen as a way a student lives his or her life, these rules should accommodate the students. Students will also feel the need to follow rules since it is their own rules. This might be because the rules appeal to the students and/or are what the students want. As a student, rules always seem to bind me from doing what I really want to. Although I realize now that these are the same rules that stop me from doing the wrong things, they still have a certain guideline for me to follow. Therefore, rules can be seen as a double-edged sword; it may either make or break someone. Thus, the task of just allowing students to set their own rules may make students realize how important they are to the student body and will start acting like adults since they want to be treated as one.

Lastly, by letting students set their own rules, what do adults have to lose? As said earlier, students would have to learn to take responsibility of what their rules are. In conclusion, students whom are mature enough should be allowed to set their own rules as it would train them to take charge in the future.

What is an exposition?

Basically,an exposition is a type of written discourse to explain, describe and inform the reader. It informs the readers about the plot, characters, settings and themes in an essay/The writer of the exposition can not assume that the reader has prior knowledge/understanding of the topic that is being discussed. So, the creator of the exposition must be very clear in what they are trying to express and not just blatantly telling the reader what is being discussed. Therefore, an exposition must have a strong organization of content so as to be effective for the reader.